Following Cookson's and Indium's decissions, Kester announces a surcharge on its line of silver- and tin-containing solder paste products. The price increase will take effect 30 days from customer notification.

Since January 2006, the cost of tin has increased by over 80 percent while the cost of silver has increased by more than 50 percent. These elevated metal prices have driven the cost of the most common lead-free alloy, SAC305, by approximately $5.00/lb — an estimated 70 percent increase. Metal costs have been increasing steadily for the past year and show no signs of retreating during the balance of 2007.

The increase on the price of metals has forced Kester to pass along higher costs to solder paste customers. The surcharges on Kester's solder paste products are based on the difference between current metal costs and those from January 2006. The surcharge will be eliminated when tin and silver prices return to January 2006 levels. Products that do not contain silver or tin are not affected by this announcement.

“According to the IPC Solder Products Value Council, the costs of tin and silver have reached 19 year highs," said Brian Smith, Global Product Manager for Solder Paste and Chemicals. “Kester has held off on this surcharge for as long as possible; however, in order to continue providing the innovative technologies and global support that our customers expect, we need to apply a surcharge to these products".